Heading to SES London
I’m getting ready to head to SES London 2007 soon. I hope to see lots of search folks there! My wife and father-in-law are coming too, which is practically a recipe for interesting hijinks. 
I’ve been trying to get on a London sleep schedule by getting up earlier and earlier each morning, and varying my caffeine dosage. The day of the flight, I’m planning to wake up at 3am (11am London time) and go the whole day without caffeine. If I can sleep on the plane, I should wake up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in London. Either it will work out brilliantly, or my sleep schedule will crash and burn. I’ll let you know how it goes. I’m also really psyched about visiting the Google Dublin office (and Ireland, for that matter) for the first time.
If you think SES London might be fun, there’s still time to register.
Update: And I’m in London. I got up at 4:30 a.m. instead of 3 a.m., but my wacky get-up-early, sleep-on-the-plane, slam-a-Red-Bull-in-London plan actually worked. I was up till midnight GMT and now I need to worry about not getting up too late. Sunday we walked around, stumbled on the BAFTAs in Covent Garden (congrats, Helen Mirren!), and had a good time. Today I plan to catch up on work a bit and do touristy things before the conference starts tomorrow.
- Travel/vacation plans for first half of 2007
In case people are interested, this is how my travel and vacations appear to be shaping up for the first half of 2007: - I'm... - I’m in Dublin..
Not so much blog posting this week, as I'm trying to get as much as I can from visiting Dublin. I'll talk about more later.... - I’ll be at SES London next month
I'm going to SES London 2007. I'll be hanging at the conference (which runs Tuesday February 13th to Thursday February 15th), and I'll do a...
SearcH EngineS WeB Said,
February 10, 2007 @ 12:44 am
It would be such a super great idea, if each exhibiter would set up live streaming web cams from their booths to their websites - so anyone from around the world, anytime - could view the exhibits and hear the sales pitches - and even send questions via Chat or IM
It is ironic that no one wants to fully utilize all the hi-tech that is available, and among us - even GEEKS are not using it.
Decades from now, Techies will be looking at us as if we were living in the tech Stone Age
:LOL Those people actually TRAVELED thousands of miles to see an exhibit - and give presentations :-p
German Said,
February 10, 2007 @ 12:55 am
Matt have fun.
To SEW:
If your word is to communicate through computers so that nobody doesn’t have to travel anymore to meet other people, I just hope I would never live to meet it.
I may be old.fahionned but communicating through a web-cam is not the same .
Harith Said,
February 10, 2007 @ 1:24 am
Matt
“get on a London sleep schedule”
Tjhats a risky businesss, especially without caffeine to boost your “Data Refresh”.
Can you imagine Matt at the first day of SES with no “Data Push”
Wish you and family a nice trip to London.
Remo Said,
February 10, 2007 @ 3:18 am
You should be more psyched about the Dublin pubs than Paddyplex
Being Irish I am allowed to make that type of comment
justin flavin Said,
February 10, 2007 @ 4:04 am
And remember Matt - Dublin is not Ireland. (like London isnt England, or Paris isnt France)
If you have a few days to spare, take the train down to Cork - thats the real capital of Ireland.
being Corkonian, i’m allowed to make that type of comment.
Richard Hearne (RedCardinal) Said,
February 10, 2007 @ 4:45 am
Failte when you get here
Richard Hearne (RedCardinal) Said,
February 10, 2007 @ 4:46 am
‘Paddyplex’ LOL... you know that might just stick
Matt Cutts Said,
February 10, 2007 @ 5:27 am
Remo, I’m a complete lightweight in the alcohol dept., so I’m sure my colleagues will be saying “Did you see Matt? He drank 3-4 sips of Guinness and then fell over.”
William Said,
February 10, 2007 @ 5:32 am
God, I hate the ExCel venue in London. It takes hours to get to...
Tell the SES people to use Earls Court or Olympia !
Remo Said,
February 10, 2007 @ 7:18 am
Hopefully, it would be in line with the famous Irish tradition of renaming institutions, statues and famous icons with silly names, so business’s should now be targeted,
Sound odd, doesnt make any sense, my last words all those who think Google Ireland should be renamed Paddyplex please cast your vote
Aaron Pratt Said,
February 10, 2007 @ 12:15 pm
Safe travels Matt and try not to lose your laptop.
justin flavin Said,
February 10, 2007 @ 12:30 pm
Funily enough, in Cork, the main cinema we used to go to was called the “CinePLEX”.
so the “plex” phrase is familiar to us already - well especially after a local band, the Sultans Of Ping , had an album out called “Casual Sex in the Cineplex”
Paula Said,
February 10, 2007 @ 12:56 pm
I agree SEW that they should be using some of the high tech stuff to stream this information out to the rest of us poor saps who can’t make it to London. Still there is nothing like being there so I would never want to replace it completely.
Maurice Said,
February 10, 2007 @ 1:02 pm
SEW
I used to work for BT ill let you into a dirty little secret video conferencing isnt as wonderfull as the sales pitch - you cant
get the full feed back.
Eye contact is just one major problem doesn’t work teribly well eaven with high end gear.
And you don’t get the social aspects at all have a few drinks and a chat after work helps with building teams/groups/relasionships.
justin flavin Said,
February 10, 2007 @ 1:40 pm
maurice is dead right. even at the height of the dot com boom, I was travelling like crazy. and bearing in mind the time difference between london and california, nothing beat actually flying over to california and meeting team members and management face to face over there.
Sure, you can keep in touch with IM, email and video conferencing - but every so often, you just have to meet people face to face. I guess thats just a part of us humans that’s never going to go away.
Tim Said,
February 10, 2007 @ 2:14 pm
Good luck on your trip.
Any chance you could tell us what other googlers may be there and what their specialties are so we know who to ask our questions to?
Matt Cutts Said,
February 10, 2007 @ 3:05 pm
Tim, I believe there will be at least
Shuman - invalid clicks
Vanessa - sitemaps/webmaster console
Brian White - webspam
Those are the ones I know of off-hand.
dockarl Said,
February 10, 2007 @ 3:07 pm
Hi Matt - being a regular traveller from Australia to US / London / Europe, I’m just about an expert at this - man, talk about a time difference - doesn’t get much worse.
I guess it depends upon when you arrive, but I find the best way to get quickly in sync depends upon what time you arrive. Certainly preparing my body clock before hand has never worked for me.
Absolutely the best thing is to try and arrive early in the morning.
I make sure I don’t sleep at all during the first day, go out to dinner that night, and make sure I’m in bed by ten pm, their time. You’ll wake up refreshed. (also try to sleep on plane - ambien is a fantastic tool for that part)
Doc.
Tom Said,
February 10, 2007 @ 3:33 pm
Glad to hear you are in London soon, Matt. If you fancy having lunch with the enemy I’m sure us Yahoo!s would be glad to see you
Drop me a line if you fancy it.
Cheers,
Tom
mister scruff Said,
February 10, 2007 @ 5:06 pm
any info from your webspam stuff would be greatly appreciated. there are a lot of companies out there who have been affected by the latest google changes.
we are a legit , above board , operation and we dont do spam and we arent into the “link exchange” stuff. so we try our best to adhere to google’s guidelines. Despite all that our overseas traffic dropped about 50 per cent over the past month.
(we’re in the uk)
but, if the google changes mean that I need to feed back those changes to the business - then we need to change the content and business practises of our website . And i’m all for it. maybe we’re doing something “wrong” , that we’re just not aware of. but if it ends up with the end user getting a better experience, then that can only be a good thing for everyone. That webspam guy is definitely a guy to meet up with. Good luck Matt and hope the trip goes well.
Dave (Original) Said,
February 10, 2007 @ 6:30 pm
RE: Eye contact is just one major problem doesn’t work teribly well eaven with high end gear.
===============================
I believe the suggestion is in addition too, not in place of.
One would think the use of available technolgy would be no-brainer at ALL SES. I can think of many reasons why, and no single reason why not?
Jonathan Said,
February 10, 2007 @ 7:33 pm
Matt: you have a tail? ... and it’s bushy????!
Chris_D Said,
February 10, 2007 @ 8:47 pm
PaddyPlex - I love it.
So does that mean Sydney is the BrucePlex?
http://orangecow.org/pythonet/sketches/bruces.htm
Preston Said,
February 10, 2007 @ 11:49 pm
Have fun in London - I always thought we had to go to SES San Jose to get the real Google guys, guess I was wrong
Tony Comstock Said,
February 11, 2007 @ 5:12 am
My father went to Ireland last Summer and brought me back a nifty snap brim cap from Donegal. I’ve never been much of a hat wearer, but I wear this one–and get compliments on it where ever I go.
Also, you can’t drink Guiness over a webcam.
Tim Said,
February 11, 2007 @ 6:47 am
Thanks Matt, I’ve seen pictures of you swamped at conferences so thought I would get your advice on who else was there and may have a little more time. Hope you enjoy your time in Ireland, beautiful countryside if you get a chance.
William - I agree about Excel, Olympia would be much easier. I’ve never been there before but I guess I will have to add an extra hour or two to my journey time getting through/around London (I have to drive up, I would find myself single if I wasn’t at home for valentines day). Anyone know the best way from the M4? Drive all around the M25, or take a tube through the centre - any suggestions?
Milan Said,
February 11, 2007 @ 10:35 am
I know I would pay for live streaming...
p.s. If somebody bores you on yor flight just put this on your laptop: http://www.thecleverest.com/countdown.swf
Matt Cutts Said,
February 11, 2007 @ 3:31 pm
Milan, I’m not sure people would get the joke.
teddie Said,
February 11, 2007 @ 5:39 pm
I promise to go easy if it looks like your cunning sleep plan didn’t work.
ps. really want to speak to you or Vanessa about localisation issues, its a bigger deal I think than you realise.
political forum Said,
February 11, 2007 @ 11:19 pm
Well, my comment isn’t related to this article, but I didn’t know how else to contact you.
I just wanted to mention that Google News RSS feed seems to be unstable. It doesn’t load up all the time. It sometimes has like a blank screen. Do you know what’s wrong with it?
Dave (Original) Said,
February 11, 2007 @ 11:54 pm
Why not contact Google rather than Matts personal blog?
Harith Said,
February 11, 2007 @ 11:59 pm
Matt
Welcome to Northeren Europe; The Mecca of Advanced WebSpam
Is it possible to invite Brian White to your blog to reply to some questions related to european spam in other languages than english?
Thanks.
Henry Elliss Said,
February 12, 2007 @ 1:33 am
Welcome to London Mr Cutts!
Dyce Said,
February 12, 2007 @ 1:37 am
Hey Matt, and welcome to sunny old England
lol
Better this week than last with the frost and snow etc. Hope SES goes well, shame I cant make it this time.. ahh well
Have fun!
Aaron Shear Said,
February 12, 2007 @ 11:53 am
Dublin is great, I have an office there as well. Temple Bar, the area is great fun. Amazing energy, I would check it out if you have a chance.
SEO Straight Talk Said,
February 12, 2007 @ 12:02 pm
Matt,
The best way to beat the big bad JetLag is to avoid the fight. I’ve been traveling around the world for years and believe me...if you simply keep your meals on schedule, your sleep will follow (it’s amazing). Once you arrive in London, eat when it’s lunch time (force yourself), dinner, etc....
Good Luck! Wish i could take the time off to be there too.
Debbie Harrison Said,
February 12, 2007 @ 12:19 pm
Hey Matt
I shall see you there bright and early. I am looking forward to your 45 minutes slot on Wednesday.
You’re lucky, at least you’re already in London. I’ve gotta drive from Home to ExCeL for the next 3 days going through Speed camera Alley!!
feedthebot Said,
February 12, 2007 @ 12:57 pm
Matt, thank you for mentioning my site, greatly appreciated!
I have not been around a computer for awhile, so I couln’t thank you earlier (I am not always connected to the web, and sometimes several weeks go by without me checking my email). Enjoy London.
czao Said,
February 12, 2007 @ 4:21 pm
hope i can to join ses london 2007 in the future day:)
czao Said,
February 12, 2007 @ 4:27 pm
hope i can to join ses london in the future day:)
Stuart @ Vip Said,
February 12, 2007 @ 4:58 pm
Hey Matt go wave at our webcam in covent garden will you
http://www.virtual-london.com/interactive/virtual-london-webcam/index.html
Dave (Original) Said,
February 12, 2007 @ 5:24 pm
RE: “Hey Matt go wave at our webcam in covent garden will you”
====================================
You better specify “hand”
Stuart @ Vip Said,
February 12, 2007 @ 5:43 pm
Dave wich ever hand shot my rankings
I want a shot back !
Stu
tom funk Said,
February 13, 2007 @ 8:02 am
Matt, I like your strategy of caffeine-modulation followed by a Red Bull jolt. Last night we got a visit from Red Bull’s “Mobile Energy Team,” dishing out freebies. (I run Vermont Teddy Bear’s websites and we do 30% of our year’s business in a few frantic days before Valentine’s Day - the last two are basically all-nighters. Picture 45,000 teddy bears rolling down a conveyor belt) . . .
Another caffeine strategy, possibly crackpot: in the wee hours, a friend of mine in college used to take No-Doz BEFORE going to bed, on the theory his body would fight it for a few hours and then he would rise bright-eyed and bushytailed.
loki Said,
February 13, 2007 @ 8:09 am
“I’m also really psyched about visiting the Google Dublin office (and Ireland, for that matter) for the first time”
first time in two years. knowing that an important part of your team is located there.. you wanna be congratulated for that?
ah ah ah..
SEOman Said,
February 13, 2007 @ 8:38 am
Hey Matt,
I will be at SES London with a colleague from SearchPath.co.uk Internet Marketing.
Look forward to your Wednesday morning speech.
Mike Said,
February 13, 2007 @ 6:36 pm
Aaron Pratt Said:
“Safe travels Matt and try not to lose your laptop.”
Matt, I see Tom from Yahoo has invited you to lunch – be careful he wants to seal your laptop!
g1smd Said,
February 14, 2007 @ 12:26 am
I better not make any snarky comments .... Matt Cutts is sat right behind me, working on his presentation.
Magnus Said,
February 14, 2007 @ 12:01 pm
Just got home from day 2. Thanks for the keynote, a bit dissapointed Matt didn’t give us the google algo, but still interesting to hear about trends. Very happy with my day at SES.
Kun Said,
February 16, 2007 @ 9:16 am
SES London 2007 is over. 3 days of mind numbing trends, analysis, facts, figures, opinions, suggestions, and every damn shade of the pale shady hat. - But now that is all over, what did we actually learn?
Yes, Googlebomb fix is actually a hoax. MSN with the money and Yahoo with the spiders may join forces in the future. Linkbaiting is a white hat technique… etc - but we already knew all this. Whats New?
How about… Yahoo is taking market share from MSN since December, MSN has a booth at exhibition but no one was there to represent Yahoo or Google. Google had a “university” session, and Ask execs plugged their engine at every opportunity.
On a personal note, we learnt that Rand Fishkin is engaged, Matt Cutts the Anti spam director from Google gets more spam every day then I get in a year, and I got food poisoning from all the cold fish at the buffet dinner.
All in all, the real useful nuggets of information, the details that can actually help with Search marketing, well, those were the bits that seem to be left behind along with the stale sandwiches served at lunch!
Peter (IMC) Said,
February 16, 2007 @ 8:19 pm
lol, everything has to be complicated,
The best way (for me anyway) to prevent sleep problems on a trip like this is by sleeping as little as possible the night before so you actually will sleep on the plane and don’t arrive completely deprived of sleep.
When I travel it is from an area much closer to the equator where the sun doesn’t stay that long in the evening to the netherlands where in the summer it doesn’t get dark before 10:30 pm. That is something no sleeping schedule can help you out. It´s 9 pm in holland which put’s the sun about as high as it does at 3 to 4pm in Brazil, resulting in a complete lack of feeling what time it is. That actually does take a couple of days to get used to.
g1smd Said,
February 20, 2007 @ 1:40 pm
Looks like spam to me. Keyword in URL has little or no relevanvce.
SES was a blast. Lots of fun.
I came back from London with a stinker of a cold - caught on the tube earlier in the week sometime. It also didn’t help that on the three-hour coach journey home, late at night, that someone in the seat right behind mine insisted on talking on their mobile phone for more than two and a half hours of the journey - when all around were trying to get to sleep. It was a shrill voice in some sing-song type foreign language, one that kept everyone awake, seemingly forever, despite subtle and not so subtle hints to shuddupandpackitinrightnow... the sort of voice I always imaginged [i]SearchEnginesWeB[/i] to have possessed [shudder].
DS Said,
February 21, 2007 @ 10:18 am
I agree SEW that they should be using some of the high tech stuff to stream this information out to the rest of us poor saps who can’t make it to London
Sam Tilston Said,
April 8, 2007 @ 1:42 pm
I really felt that SES London was a huge let down, I expected a lot of stands but it was really small for what is one of the largest cities on earth. I hope next years show is a lot better.